Aaron Akzin & Sudha Sudunagunta, WebMD
Are distributed teams more powerful than a locomotive? Maybe.
Are distributed teams able to leap buildings in a single bound? Well…
Can Agile development work with a distributed team? Given that the Agile Manifesto calls for “Individuals and interactions over processes and tools” does having remote workers doom a team to reverting to non-Agile methodologies? It’s a business reality that staff won’t necessarily be co-located which can make adopting Agile more challenging due to a lack of face-to-face interaction and often high latency communication channels.
This potential hindrance can be turned into a strategic advantage when applied to an Agile team. How do you leverage those resources in staggered time zones to extend the work day, productivity and improve development cycle time? What tools and techniques help remote workers stay connected to their team? How can cultural and geographic diversity provide a uniquely satisfying work experience for all team members? This paper provides a case study of how a team effectively navigated the challenges of a distributed Agile team.
Aaron Akzin & Sudha Sudunagunta, 2012 Technical Paper, Abstract, Paper
